Please help; how do I get to sleep?

[x Layla x]

I've had insomnia for 13 years. The normal tips don't work for me.
The whole "your body gets used to it" argument always drove me mad - I got through college on 3 hours sleep a night. Even being out the house for 11 or so hours a day didn't help me sleep!

I have depression and anxiety so it's probably linked to that for me.

The only way I sleep easily is when my boyfriend is in the bed with me. The rest of the time I just watch a tv show/movie I like but have watched a lot. Its the only thing that works for me when I'm alone, it needs to be mildly amusing enough that I don't get bored of just being laid there, but that I've seen enough that it isn't actually a distraction from sleeping.

I'm not as bad now as I used to be, but it used to take me about 5 hours to get to sleep at the very least. Some nights I just didn't sleep.

Now that I've worked out how it works for me it takes about two hours.

[Aperl]

I don't think I have insomnia, personally, though I've convinced myself of it multiple times.
Insomnia is something that seems to run in my familly. My father insta-sleeps, and my brother as well. But my mom often takes sleeping pills, my grandmother reads for hours before she can sleep, and my grandfather has around 3 hours of sleep every night (and has to take naps in the afternoon).
It usually takes me around 2-4 hours to sleep. It's as if my body's internal clock was aligned with Australia's timezone or something.
However, I learned to control it, and to adapt myself to it. As I already mentioned, I read until my brain has only the energy to turn off the light. Then, and only then, can I close my eyes and fall under morpheo's embrace. For the past three days, I've been reading until 3-3:30 a.m.
I didn't find any way to just fall asleep instantaneously. Reading for 3 hours isn't insta-sleep at all. But as I love reading, I find it an agreeable compromise. I also have a school schedule that allows me to wake up late.
My advice is, find something that will drain your energy. I do sports everyday, not much, mind you, but still enough to feel tired in the evening. Then, I perform my Fatality! move my forcing my eyes to close themselves, which is, by applying light on them and keeping them open. And I kill what's left of my brain by giving me things to ponder about, by thinking about stuff. Those last two elements I mix through reading. Flipping pages does not require the physical activity of moving a mouse, so it keeps my body in a sleeping motion. That's why I don't suggest to be on the computer, for as long as your body is active (that sentence is dubious lol), you won't be able to be in a sleeping stance.